Welcome! This blog tracks the real estate market in the Central Shenandoah Valley, featuring market data and analysis, an exploration of common buying and selling questions, and candid commentary on all things real estate.

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As the price of a home increases, so does a buyer's desire for that home to be a wonderful fit for their needs and wants, both now and in the future.

And it makes sense --

1. If you're buying an expensive (fill in your own definition here) home then you are likely to be planning to stay for a while, and thus the home should work quite well for you.

2. If you're buying an expensive home, it is a major investment (or more major than if it was a less expensive home) and thus you want to make sure the home is exactly what you want.

3. If you're buying an expensive-ish home you could probably also consider building a home -- which would give you exactly what you want in a house -- so the resale home you are considering better come darn close to that ideal.

Anyhow -- this is just what I consider to be a reality of buyers considering the purchase of higher end homes. Some of the resulting implications are....

1. Buyers of expensive homes often spend more time in the home search process -- waiting for "the right" home to come along.

2. Sellers of expensive homes should expect to hear "it just wasn't a good fit" quite a bit when asking what buyers thought after viewing the house.

3. Buyers of expensive homes are typically willing to be very patient in waiting for the ideal fit, as it is a big investment.

4. Sellers of expensive homes sometimes have to sell for less than they feel their home is or should be worth -- if there aren't any buyers (over a prolonged time period) for whom the house is an ideal fit.

Oh, and one last note, this correlation between price and pickiness does not necessarily extend in both directions. Buyers of lower priced homes are not universally non-picky or hasty to buy or overly willing to compromise.